A variety of communications cables are well known in the art. Many such communications cables are designed to carry high frequency signals such as, for example, signals with center frequencies of 100 MHz or more. Two types of communications cables are primarily used to carry such high frequency signals, namely (1) communications cables that include metal conductive wires and (2) fiber optic communications cables.
A variety of different conductive wire-based communications cables are known in the art, with two of the most widely used being coaxial cables and twisted pair cables. Typically, the conductive wires used in both coaxial and twisted pair cables use pure copper wires or wires formed of copper alloys, as copper is highly conductive and relatively inexpensive (e.g., as compared to silver which is more conductive but far more expensive). In order to reduce the weight or expense of a communications cable, in some cases copper or copper alloys may be plated onto the outside of another lighter and/or cheaper metal wire such as, for example, aluminum.
As a demand for communications systems that operate at higher frequencies and/or data rates increases, a need exists for communications cables that support these higher data rates without prohibitive increases in the expense, size and/or weight of the communications cables.